SAP Mentor, supply chain management enthusiast. Advocate for science as a basis to optimize the SAP supply chain. Active in Europe and North America. Sailboater, private pilot, motorbiker. At home in Tribeca, NYC.
The opinions expressed in this blog are mine!

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Maybe you read my blog here or maybe our paths crossed at some point in time. In any case, if we ever discussed the subject of SAP in general or Materials Planning in particular, you know that I have a strong opinion on the way people implement and use it.More often than not an organization drops functionality and transactions on to the planner, scheduler and buyer - providing minimal (transactional) training - only to expect far better results than ever before ("hey, we spent all this money for you to have these great transactions"). I do not believe that this is working out well and think it might cause even more frustration than there was before.That is why I wouldn't rest until I got the chance to put my thoughts down in form of a book. Thanks to Rheinwerk Publishing (formerly Galileo), Kathy Spencer, Hareem Shafi and specially Emily Nicholls I was given the great opportunity.Because I did not want to write a technical 'transaction' book, this might be a bit different from what you expect from a typical SAPPRESS publication.The book starts shipping November 30 and you can pre-order at amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Materials-Planning-SAP-Uwe-Goehring/dp/1493211978/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444479768&sr=8-1&keywords=uwe+goehring)Critique and suggestions are most welcome and I deeply hope that it can make a small difference to the better in your own organization...

Did you know... (send an email to uwe@bigbytesoftware.com if you want me to elaborate)

that MF50 is a great transaction to do production scheduling... even with discrete orders!

that the coverage profile does not only drive your inventory to a dynamic, minimum safety stock, but also keeps your stock below a maximum? You will have to make sure though, that you use lot size indicator 'EX'

that you can collectively availability check all planned orders with transaction MDVP. Make sure you customize a layout that directs the check with your desired functions.

that you can collectively availability check production orders with transaction COMAC

that you can perform an approximate capacity check on your production plant right out of the long term forecast in ERP. That way you do not send infeasable numbers to MRP

that you can use the availability check during production order release to control WIP levels in the cell or line? Set the control so that orders with missing capacity can't be released